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2018 Mission to Slay Mediocrity Mission Statement: Getting married in October. Currently out of shape. Want to fix, be fit. Starting Date: June 28th, 2018 Goal Date: October 6th, 2018 Days to Goal From Start: 100 Starting Weight: 212.8 lbs Goal Weight: 175 lbs Estimated Required Weight Loss: 3 lbs per week Diet: Slow Carb Workout Style: Bodyweight, Obstacle Course Big Wins - none yet. Big Observations - none yet. Current Challenge: Level 1: Let's Kick the Tires and Light the Fires I'm going to try and make this daily, but my commitment is to update this once a week at a minimum. To date, I have actually run a 5K obstacle course to completion, though I failed about a third of the obstacles (basically all of the upper-body-strength ones). I know what I need to do to succeed. My biggest enemy, though, is myself: I'm really good at talking myself out of things. That's not gonna fly here.

So I've just read Tim Ferriss's The Four Hour Body (well, skimmed it really -- that thing is a brick) and I am really intrigued. I am just wondering if any of the lovely NF members here have any experience with it, or any pointers for anybody thinking of trying the diet out. What's easy about it? What's hard about it? Is it easy to stick to or does the novelty burn off too quick? If you have tried it, I'd love to hear more.

I just started and I just feel doubtful that such a diet can work, because you can eat ANYTHING YOU WANT one day a week and you can eat the approved foods in ANY QUANTITY YOU WANT. I'll let you know how it goes. I took some measurements. I haven't obtained the recommended supplements and I'm actually kind of confused as to how they want us to exercise. So I'm mostly just sticking to the eating plan for now. I will be so disappointed in myself if I can't stick with it. Any opinions on this book or diet?

Mumen rider is my current goal! Saitama is of course the ultimate goal, should be fun trying haha xD mini quests are: #1 - Slow carb, No Air Conditioning! Recently purchased Tim Ferris' 4 Hour Body and I really like the look of the slow carb diet. Especially the 1 day per week where you re-carb. Going to have the same calorie issues with this that I had when I tried the paleo diet, but there are specific instructions on that. No calorie counting, just eat lots of protein, vegetables and beans/lentils. #2 - Exercise. 100 PUSHUPS, 100 SITUPS, 100 SQUATS, AND A 10 KM RUN. EVERY SINGLE DAY! Well, I'll work up to that. I did 5 of each yesterday, and a lot of walking. I'll work on more today, 10 of each and see how far I can run before the copper taste invades. ... That's it for now. -Current Stats- Height: 5'5" Weight: 159 lbs Bicep Circumference (individual): 12.5" Bust: 39" Waist: 33.5" Hips: 42.5" Thighs (ind): 25"

WORDS HAVE POWER. THEY WILL NOT BE RUSHED.

Hi, everybody: My general goal: Lose 15 pounds before my sister's wedding on April 8. (8 weeks). I've never really tried a diet quest because I really fucking hate diet changes. But I'm at my highest weight ever, despite bodyweight workouts and trying to be more active. So, it's time to try something new. Q1: Document all my food. I use YouFood, my username is traaki. I'd love to have some accountabilibuddies over there! Strengths: I've done this before and was fairly successful unless I was drunk or hungover (surprise). Weaknesses: I'm shy about it and feel rude for whipping my phone out every time I eat. Q2: Eat a high protein, low/slow carb breakfast every day. Eggs, beans, salsa, veggies, lunch meat, lentils, spices, hot sauce, cottage cheese. No more waffles and sweetened yogurt. If I must eat those, I will eat them later in the day. I will need to prep for this pretty intensively--mornings are not my best time, but it's also the time of day when I eat on my own the most so I don't have to worry about getting my partner involved. Strengths: I love eating lunch for breakfast. Weaknesses: If this morning is any indication, I'm going to need to plan out these meals. I'm reaaaaal slow in the mornings. Q3: Do 100 pushups/100 squats program 3 x week. I tried this a while back and had good success with it. I basically just got bored when it got really hard, I think, and stopped doing it. But I'd like to get through the whole program. Now that I can do squats at least some of the time (!!!!!) I'm really looking forward to this. LQ: Take daily action! I'm doing a different challenge for marketing my business this month. My LQ is to read the program materials every day and take the actions I've planned for myself each day. I took new measurements on Saturday--those are in my battle log. I really want to see how these diet changes affect things since I struggle so much with the diet changes at all, so it's kind of a respawn point for me.

(I'm starting my battle log over now that I know myself and the rebellion better.) I seriously need to ditch a bunch of this fat I'm carrying. It makes wardrobe management a daily difficulty. I also want to have more fun, and that's just easier in a stronger, more energetic body! I want to always be up for a race or a dance party with my kids! Also, I struggle with mental health (my diagnoses are chronic major depression and borderline personality disorder.) Also also, I moved halfway across the country a few years ago to be near my in-laws, and I still haven't made many friends or found much to love about my new home. So... My progress goes in fits and starts, and it's often two steps forward, one step back. Goals! Weigh 175 pounds (starting at 235 pounds on 1/1/15) Do a standard pushup Do a standard pull up Learn archery Make miso (in progress) Make Moroccan fermented lemons Knit something that's not a rectangle (in progress) Crochet an afghan (in progress) Knit or crochet a sweater Write a novel (in progress) Take my kids to the Oregon coast (done June 2015) Visit Maine Visit the Mediterranean coast of Spain, France and Italy

Long story short, my first challenge fell apart a little. And this one is starting a little late. But that's okay! Still hoping to get going on making more people at some point in the not-too-distant future, but it's temporarily postponed because of figuring out some health stuff and also some scheduling stuff. In the meantime, I need to do something about me. I've been feeling kind of gross and unhealthy for a while, and I need to fix that, for me (better health and more self-confidence are always good things - especially because losing weight should help with the potential health stuff I might have to deal with), for my boyfriend (feeling gross does not make me very excited about participating in activities that could lead to making more people...let's just put it that way!), and for the future people we might make. Also, I started a new job a few weeks ago! I'm really enjoying it, and my coworkers are all awesome (I work from home, but, you know, Slack). This means I have less time and flexibility but more of a routine and a little more get-up-and-go (being productive and earning money is a little more inspiring than facebooking all day). With that in mind, my goals have to be a little more toned down and changed from the last challenge, but I'm hoping that also means they'll be more achievable. Main goal: Feel less gross and unhealthy. Fit into my clothes better. Be more active and have more energy. This is pretty subjective - I'm not going to keep a close eye on the scale (especially since the cat somehow broke it and now we have to get out a board and put it on the scale frame every time we want to use it) and I just never got into taking measurements. But I know when I feel more or less comfortable and happy with myself - and when I'm not bulging out of the top of my pants! 1. Run three times a week. For now I'm mostly going to stick to three-mile runs, generally on Tuesday, Thursday, and Sunday. 2. One hundred kettlebell swings three times a week. This is partly for getting some dynamic weights in and partly for getting up from my desk throughout the day. I'd like to get up from my desk about once an hour to do ten swings at a time on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. I might also try to do some on running days (I should still get up from my desk on those days, after all) and/or bump up the numbers as the challenge goes on, but this is my baseline for now. 3. Intermittent fasting + slow carb until dinner on weekdays. I've done both of these with some success in the past. I know that I can't commit to doing them all day every day for various reasons, but during the workday it's definitely doable, and I'm going to mostly eat reasonably the rest of the week, too. Life goal: Work on my master's thesis - hopefully even finish it! Yes, this still. My advisors and I (and everyone I complain to about it) are all sick of this dragging on, and I'm going back to the US in late July for work and to visit family and friends, and I'd really really really like to have this off my plate by then. So...I'm shooting for at least ten hours a week here - preferably at least one hour on weekdays and then some more time on the weekends. I'm not going to grade myself every day (it was kind of a bummer to see all those F's for my thesis goal in my last challenge...), but I'm going to try to post almost every day and then at the end of the week take a look back and see how I did. Okay! It's time! P.S. I don't think overweight = gross or anything. I'm just referring to how I currently feel in my own skin!

Last challenge, I took a detour from completely focusing on diet and weight loss. I slayed some demons and fixed up some life issues and now I am absolutely brimming with confidence! But. This challenge is gonna be boring. (I will keep talking about food, though!) I have an amazing trip planned for June! We--myself, my Mr. and our cubs--are heading back to Oregon for a week! And, since I will be seeing friends and family who haven't seen me in years, I'm solidly motivated to keep losing weight. But, with this impending trip *and* gardening and spring cleaning seasons gearing up, I also have less time and head space free... So. Boring ol' stick-to-the-diet challenge. (The diet I am using is Tim Ferris's Slow Carb Diet. The basic idea is: for six days a week, I stick to meat/fish/eggs, legumes, and veggies. I have one off-diet day each week. It's proven to be a darned effective diet since I quit drinking so much wine.) Here's what I'm going to do: PLAN: Each grocery shopping day (usually Wednesday,) make sure I'm getting ingredients for 6 slow-carb-friendly dinners and lunches. (Breakfast is always just eggs.) EAT AND DRINK: Just keep doing the diet that I know works. Especially: NO ALCOHOL ON DIET DAYS!!! REPORT: Log my food here, so I'll be less likely to eat counterproductive things because I won't want to have to tell you guys about them. My weight tracking is pretty vague... I have an old bathroom scale that was here when we moved in. I weighed about 175 pounds before my cubs came along, 240 when I joined NF, and 235 at the beginning of 2015. Right now I'm a couple of pounds over 225. My main quest for 2015 is to get under 200. Motivated bear is motivated:

Hello! I can ramble sometimes, so I'll try to get right to the point here: my boyfriend and I are about to start the whole babymaking thing, and I want to be as healthy as possible in order to provide a good environment for our potential future human. I'm not particularly unhealthy at the moment, but I could certainly stand to lose some weight and eat a bit better, and I've been slacking on exercise lately. [Disclaimer: I'm sure you all get it, but just in case, please don't be offended by my calling babies-to-be parasites. I mean, they *do* live off their mothers' life forces...but they're adorable, so I'm okay with it.] Quest 1 Get in at least 30 minutes of movement every day. Ideally this will break down to 3 days of running, 2 days of walking, and 2 days of yoga, but for now the important thing is actually getting off my butt and preferably getting out of the house. (I work at home, so it's easy to This is really for each day, so if I do one hour one day, that doesn't matter - I still need to get 30 minutes in the next day. It's also pretty much all or nothing, because I'n not likely to go outside for just 15 minutes, anyway. By the time I get out there, I might as well stick it out for the full 30 minutes. So the grading for each day is as follows: 30 minutes: A for the day < 30 minutes: F for the day Quest 2 Make a weekly meal plan and shop/prep on the weekend. I know a lot of my questionable food choices are because of not having enough healthy food at home and/or not wanting to cook every day. Planning and prepping ahead of time should help me eat better. If I make some kind of breakfast dish and soup on the weekend, then my breakfast and lunch should be pretty much set for the week, for example. I'd like to shoot for at least semi slow carb, particularly for breakfast and lunch, but will not be strict about it for dinner, especially because my boyfriend does a lot of the cooking and isn't very interested in the idea. (Starting next week, since I'm a bit late, but I'll try to do a partial meal plan this week, anyway.) accomplished: A for the week not accomplished: F for the week Quest 3 Eat at least 3 vegetables (preferably 3 different ones, but it's not required) and 1 fruit per day. Green leafy vegetables are especially good! This quest relies quite a bit on the previous one. 3 v + 1 f: A for the day 2 v + 1 f: B for the day 2 v: C for the day 1 v: D for the day anything else (including 0 v + 1 f): F for the day Life quest All my friends and family are sick of me talking about how I need to finish my master's thesis. I'm close enough to see the light at the end of the tunnel, but I'm finding it hard to just sit down and deal with it and have been procrastinating far too much. My goal is at least 3 hours of truly thesis-focused work each weekday, which might sound like a lot, but this is really hanging over me and I also don't have a lot of actual work right now because I haven't been actively looking for clients while in school. I need to finish this so I can get the weight off my shoulders and have time to get more freelancing work and/or look for a full-time job (the future human is also a big motivator for that). I absolutely want to be DONE with my thesis by the time this callenge ends, and I really think that's doable as long as I put in the work. 3 hours: A for the day 2 hours: B for the day 1 hour: D for the day < 1 hour: F for the day each 1 hour on a weekend day: bonus points (still have to figure out exactly how to calculate those in to the final score) Okay! Let's do this!

What a week it has been! I'm glad to be back and I'm really, really excited for this challenge. Although... I have realized there's more I need to do before this weight will come off. I mean, technically, I have lost weight since I joined NF, but I sure hope I can get to where I'm losing more than 5 pounds a year... But first, I need to quit drinking so many calories. Which leads to: I need to learn how to relax, reward myself, comfort myself, nurture myself, have fun, celebrate good times, deal with bad times... without reaching for a wine bottle. It's been hard since I moved here, but I've been here for 3 1/2 years now, and it's time to figure out how to live. Here. Healthily. It's not lost on me that this is the challenge that will move us (or most of us... or some of us, anyway...) from winter to spring. Right now, I only have a couple of plants started, but by the end of the challenge I'll pretty much have the whole garden planted. It's a good time to prepare for a season of growth. To level up this challenge, here's what I need to do: 1. HARDHAT CHALLENGE!!! Yes! I am going 30 days without wine! (I actually started on the 17th. Sorry I didn't say anything. This week was turmoilriffic and I was being a bear. If I had tried to tell you guys about it, all you would have heard was GRRRR.) 2. FIX UP THE BAT BEAR CAVE! Specifically: - (Re)organize my spices. Mix up the blends I'm out of. - Get my loose recipes organized into a binder. - Go through the loose recipes and things saved online and figure out a. what I'm never going to actually try and b. what I should try now-ish because it would be a good fit for my slow carb diet. - Create lists of recipes I know I and my family like, and recipes I want to try. - Try at least 4 new recipes (that work with the slow carb diet.) - Get at least 2 slow cooker dinners bagged up and in the freezer. 3. ...BUT ALSO, GET OUT OF THE CAVE ONCE IN AWHILE! - Learn to use the mass transit here. Specifically, ride the bus twice. Once has to be by myself or just with the kids. - Initiate 4 social events... I don't mean big event events... I just mean, it has to be my idea to hang out with someone. Else. Someone who lives outside the cave. I started on this a bit last challenge, and I need to keep this ball rolling! 4. BREATHE... I wasn't sure how to write this into the challenge, but I do not want to let it slide! I used to do breathing and relaxation exercises regularly, but I've gotten out of the habit as I've been using wine to relax. Time to switch back. So, at bedtime, and when I feel tense or anxious, I'm going to breathe and consciously relax my muscles. Tied in with this is, well, figuring out how to do all the other things I've been using wine to do. The past few days have gone very, very well. When I find myself thinking that I'd like a drink, I figure out why, and then I figure out what I'm actually going to do. Accomplish a task? Sit and read? Hang out with my kids? Send my husband a smiley text? I look forward to seeing what this challenge brings

I'm going to keep doing the Slow Carb diet. The gist of it is to eat meat/fish/eggs, legumes, and vegetables 6 days a week, and eat whatever you want on the 7th. I lost about 10 lbs with it last challenge; this challenge, I bet I can lose even more! The trouble is, other areas of life are using up lots of focus and energy and causing stress and long bouts of praying and thinking quietly. This will be the first time I felt the stress and dieted anyway... I will, however be lenient with myself about my wine consumption. I will be stricter with myself about including legumes because, last challenge, it sure seemed to make a difference. *EDITED* because it's time to be *less* lenient about wine, and winter depression hit and shifted my focus. So: 1. I'll follow the Slow Carb diet, with at least 36 meals including legumes. 2. I'll *take my cod liver oil (my preferred source of vitamin d) at least 6 days a week.* 3. *I'll decrease my wine consumption until I'm back down to 2 glasses a day. Passing will be meeting this goal for at least 5 of the last 7 days of this challenge.* Starting weight: 230 pounds

So I didn't lose much weight last challenge (like a pound or two maybe), although I did gain a good amount of strength and was able to level up on my climbing (from onsighting a 5.8 to a 5.9). I'm very happy with that, but I do think that to break the 5.10 barrier I need to drop some poundage. So I am going to try Tim Ferris's Slow Carb Diet from the 4 Hour Body. Other goals remain. Main Quest is to (free) climb a 5.10. 1. Climbing skills: climbing-specific workout 2x/week. A - 2x C -1x F - none times :-( 2. General fitness: workout each day. I've got a good rotation right now between climbing, HIIT, a spinning class with weights, and yoga). A - all 7 days (including active recovery day) B - 6 days C - 5 days D - 4 days F - 3 days or less. 3. Nutrition: Follow Slow Carb Diet. Rules are as follows: 1. No white carbs (dairy, grains, potatoes, etc.) 2. Eat the same few meals over and over again. 3. Do not drink calories (Tim makes an exception for red wine, and I am going to make an exception for coconut milk in my coffee). 4. No fruit. 5. One binge day per week (woo!). This will be Saturdays for me. A - Perfect week. B - Cheated on a non-cheat day. C - Cheated on 2 non-cheat days. F - Cheated more than 2 non-cheat days. I have my first week's meals ready in the fridge and freezer. Looking forward to giving this a shot!

Hello all, This is my first time on the forum and my first time doing a challenge (though I've been reading the blog for a few months now). I've tried to lose weight and get in shape in the past and I've seen some results, but I generally can't keep it up for more than 2-3 weeks. I'd like to keep up a healthy lifestyle for longer this time (and hopefully make it a permanent change). So here goes, here are my goals and my plans on achieving them: Lose 15 pounds I've been able to lose about 2-3 pounds a week before when I take up healthy habits but I've never been able to keep it up for more than a week or two. This time around I want to keep going for a longer stretch of time and see a more permanent change. Based on my experiments from the past, I've found that what helps me the most is.... Sustaining a slow-carb diet Whenever I've tried this in the past I start seeing results within a week or so. I start losing weight and feel better mentally and physically. Unfortunately, I also cave into temptation and end up eating a burger or pizza or some kind of dessert and all the positive effects are lost. I'm planning on keeping myself accountable by keeping a food journal (maybe publicly here). However, I don't want to just lose weight, I want to get in better physical shape in general and the best way for me to do that is... Go swimming 3-4 times a week I used to really dislike exercising (especially cardio) but I just learned to swim and I absolutely love it. I love being in the water, I love the freedom of movement and all my worries and thoughts just melt away once I get in the water. It's refreshing and by the end of a good swim, my shoulders are aching, the endorphins are flowing and I feel great. I've been swimming regularly for two weeks now and my cardiovascular fitness is already improving. The only problem is that during the day the gym is open 11am to 2pm. That's a bit awkward because it breaks up the work day. I still want to get in a full day's work and so I want to work on... Getting up at 7am every weekend I like waking up early in the morning -- it helps me be productive and I can take an hour or two to work on myself before starting work. Unfortunately, that doesn't happen as often as I'd like. This means that I'll have to go to sleep earlier and at a consistent time. I'm going to start of using alarms, but I'd like to eventually wean myself off it. So off we go... I'll post updates as I go along and we'll see how it goes!